SkipFlow: Improving the Precision of Points-to Analysis using Primitive Values and Predicate Edges

Abstract: A typical points-to analysis such as Andersen's or Steensgaard's may lose precision because it ignores the branching structure of the analyzed program. Moreover, points-to analysis typically focuses on objects only, not considering instructions manipulating primitive values. We argue that such an approach leads to an unnecessary precision loss, for example, when primitive constants true and false flow out of method calls. We propose a novel lightweight points-to analysis called SkipFlow that interprocedurally tracks the flow of both primitives and objects, and explicitly captures the branching structure of the code using predicate edges. At the same time, however, SkipFlow is as lightweight and scalable as possible, unlike a traditional flow-sensitive analysis. We apply SkipFlow to GraalVM Native Image, a closed-world solution to building standalone binaries for Java applications. We evaluate the implementation using a set of microservice applications as well as well-known benchmark suites. We show that SkipFlow reduces the size of the application in terms of reachable methods by 9% on average without significantly increasing the analysis time.